I am pretty sad that we have only one class left with Livy's Heart Birth Services, both Ryan and I have really been comforted and have really really enjoyed all of our classes. So much so that I plan on speaking to Roxanne after class tonight to find out what her doula pricing is, I would love to have her at the birth center instead of whatever doula is on call. She has a way of bringing me into a deep relaxation that I have not been able to achieve without her. Even Ryan can't believe how much her voice is now a relaxation trigger for him.

Class last week was just us two and we had it on a Friday and it was a perfect start to a full weekend, I really enjoyed it being just the 3 of us [and you can hire her to do personal classes to so if that is something you would be interested in I would definitely take a look into that]. We did the fear release that I mentioned in the last blog, it was pretty awesome, I have a little bit of trouble with the longer relaxation practices, even while totally into it and relaxed once it gets past a certain point my mind starts to bounce around in the scene. I would go back to the beginning or get lost somewhere in the middle, but by the end I was actually able to see what my fears were on the "stage" in my mind and I was able to move past them. Also during the guided relaxation we wrote down our fears in a notebook and slowly tore out the pages and got rid of them. Before this class I would have considered that to be a little silly but it honestly worked. I really enjoyed it. It may have worked more than planned though haha that evening I had dreams of so many more fears that I had not even considered yet! She said she would happily do more fear release exercises with us free of charge [which is so nice] I might take her up on it because dreaming about my baby as a puppy who falls in a pool, or getting in a car accident leaving the birth center and tripping over the baby and stroller the 1st time we go on a walk are very exhausting.

During class we went over the anatomy of labor. I had no idea what the stages of labor were, what efface meant and the stages of presentation. I loved it! I realized I have read about this in my books but learning about it one on one left me feeling much more prepared and ready for the day Claire decides she would like to join us. I am excited that I know how to tell how long I can stay at home before needing to head in to the birth center, I am feeling very calm about the birth and I think Ryan is going to be an amazing birth partner. He has really taken to learning how to anticipate what my needs will be, learning how to read my body and be able to tell when I am having a surge, taking control of the room in case I were to need something to change, always reminding me to drink and use the restroom and just being there for me as much as he can.

Above is our home practice for the weekend, we have talked about it a lot but I have yet to sit down and write everything down so I thought I might as well just do it here. It was really nice to sit back and think about when early labor actually begins how I would like to spend the time with my husband, staying calm and becoming ready to meet Claire. My first thought is when the surges begin and follow the 311/411 pattern [1 minute surges that are 3 or 4 minutes apart that last for an hour] I would like to go to the beach, I first pictures Seal Beach but maybe staying closer to home is a good idea, I think we would head to the Long Beach bluffs and watch the waves and walk the stairs. I would need to remember to use my calming breath and balloon breathing to work through the surges and be able to remain relaxed and work with my body. I started to visualize this last night and will continue to do that for the next 7 days.

Ryan and I will work on the prompt cards that I have attached below and we will continue to use the language we have learned, it has actually really helped with the thought process and I really am using them as often as I can. I should up the Rainbow Relaxation though and Ryan and I need to work on the guided practice more often, we still have about 8 weeks so we will load up on those soon.